FIG. 6.

Aged ALX-deficient mice show enhanced splenic size and T-cell activation. Six wild-type and 15 ALX-deficient F₁ 129/B6 mice were allowed to reach ages of 15 to 16 months, and then they were examined for abnormalities in peripheral lymphoid organs and pathology. (A) Spleens were isolated from each animal and their weights were recorded. Shown is a scatterplot for all mice demonstrating that while older wild-type mice had normal spleen weights of approximately 0.1 g, significant variation in spleen size was observed in older ALX-deficient animals. (B) The spleens whose weights are shown in panel A were examined for total cellularity. Data are shown as a scatterplot with each point representing cellularity in millions of cells. (C) Splenocyte suspensions from older animals were stained with various cell surface molecules to examine the activation status (by CD69 expression) on CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells by flow cytometry. Shown is the percentage of CD69⁺ cells from each animal in a scatterplot within either the CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ populations. WT, wild type; KO, ALX deficient.